Influential mathematician Victor Klee dies at 81

Updated 10:00 pm, Monday, September 17, 2007

In a career devoted to numbers, mathematician Victor Klee racked up a few of his own.

The professor spent more than 50 years at the University of Washington, during which he mentored 36 doctoral students and published more than 240 papers.

His work brought international attention to the department and affected later generations of mathematicians.

Klee died Aug. 17 in Lakewood, Ohio, at age 81 after intestinal surgery. A Seattle memorial is scheduled for Sept. 23.

He was a "very distinguished mathematician, very influential," said mathematics Chairman Selim Tuncel. "(He was) one of the most prominent faculty members ever to have been associated with the UW department of mathematics."

Klee was not only prominent in his field, but he also was supportive and easygoing. Many students sought his mentorship, Tuncel said. A number of those he worked with now teach and research in the field themselves.

"He, number one, liked people very much, and when he met a younger mathematician who seemed to have promise, he would suggest that they write a paper together," said his wife of more than two decades, Joann Klee. "Evidently once you had written a paper with him, and it was published in the math journals, people began to pay attention to who you were. He made some absolutely wonderful friendships that way."

When not at the university, Klee spent a good deal of time at home with his daughters.

He enjoined reading and studying words, and he often clipped articles that he thought his daughters should read and passed them on to them.